Two-stroke Rickshaw Making Banned, PA Told

Two-stroke Rickshaw Making Banned, PA Told

THE government has banned the manufacturing of two-stroke rickshaws and the existing ones will be phased out from the province, the Punjab Assembly (PA) was told on Tuesday.

The PA session started with a delay of over one hour with Speaker Rana Mohammed Iqbal Khan in the chair. During the brief session which continued for over an hour, queries regarding population welfare and transport departments were raised.

However, public interest resolutions could not be presented, as the movers of these resolutions did not come in the House.

During the question hour session, Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Shehzada Khurrem Gulfam told the House that so far only 34,156 two-stroke rickshaws were running on the roads of the provincial capital.

Gulfam, who is a PML-N legislator elected from Sheikhupra, said a sum of Rs 33, 000 was spent on converting a two-stroke rickshaw to four-stroke.

Khurrem Gulfam said the government was also working on a pilot project of establishing a testing laboratory for transport. However, to a question, the House was told that so far there wasnít any plan to run separate transport for women.

Moreover, a PML-Q legislator from Sahiwal, Malik Iqbal Langrial, also recorded his complaint over the reports terming his graduation degree fake. Langrial appealed to the media to show responsibility and asserted the reality was far different from what was being shown in media about him and his son Nauman Langrial, a PML-Q MNA.

However, the Speaker on the occasion remarked that media was doing its job well and it mustnít be held responsible for an individual mistake.

Besides, the legislators also criticised the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) with majority holding the view that it would merely severe the interest of India. Sheikh Alludin of PML-Q Unification Bloc remained most vocal on the occasion who on a point of order stated India was given leverage and access in Pakistan through this pact.

He said Punjab could be the worst affected by this agreement. However, he was told by Punjab Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira that issue was related with the federal government and all parties having representation in the National Assembly (NA) could well discuss it.